y, its reed shaft
glistening in the ruddy light, and its wings looking as if of fire, till
it dropped without a splash into the river, far away from where we sat.

"Now I should like to return their fire," said my father, "but I am very
doubtful about my gun doing any harm at this distance, so we must wait.
Pull a little, boy, but very gently, so that they will hardly be able to
see that we are doing anything to get away."

Pomp dipped the oars, and I sat with my heart beating, waiting to see
another arrow come, but for quite a minute there was no sign.

"Good practice for one beginning a frontier life, George," said my
father. "Sweep the bank well, and note the smallest movement of a
bough. You see there is no wind to move them now."

"I am watching, father," I said, "but I cannot see anything."

"Pomp see lil bit o' one," came from behind us.

"Where, boy?"

"Dah by dat big tree. See um arm. Going to shoot."

Almost as the words left the boy's lips, an arrow came spinning through
the air, describing a good arc, and falling in a direct line with the
boat, some twenty yards short.

"That's better," said my father, coolly resting his gun on the stern,
and half lying down in the boat. "Hah! I could see that."

I had also seen what appeared to be a quick movement of the bushes a
short distance from the edge of the bank, a movement which seemed such
as would have been made by an animal dashing through.

The waving of the foliage stopped just by a great swamp oak, and upon
this tree I fancied that my father fixed his eye.

"Dah again," said Pomp, excitedly. "Going shoot um bow an' arrow."

_Bang_!

The boat rocked a little with the concussion, and as the smoke lifted, I
saw an arrow drop into the river a long way to our left.

"I don't think I hit him," said my father; "but I disarranged his aim,
and it will check him for a bit."

His words proved correct, for though he stood up in the boat to
re-charge his piece, and offered a striking object for the Indian's
arrows, none came; and as we floated on and on, it began to seem as if
the one shot had been enough to scare the enemy. I said so, but my
father shook his head.

"No such good fortune, my boy."

"What are you going to do, father?" I said, after some minutes'
watching, and thinking how strange it was that my calm, quiet father,
who was so fond of his studies and his garden, should in a time of
emergency like this prove himself to be a firm